CA To Crackdown On Ultra-Processed Foods Like Chips, Cookies, Drinks And Hot Dogs

CALIFORNIA — Gov. Gavin Newsom is cracking down on ultra-processed foods, he announced in an executive order this month.

The order directs the state health department to find ways by April 1 to limit harms associated with ultra-processed foods, such as requiring warning labels for certain items. It also directs state agencies to find ways to increase access to healthy food options for Californians.

Ultra-processed foods are likely to have many added ingredients like sugar, salt, fat, artificial colors and preservatives, according to Harvard Health Publishing. Ultra-processed foods include packaged hot dogs, lunch meats, chips, cookies, candy, and sugary drinks.

Newsom’s announcement of the executive order noted the link between healthy eating and lowering the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, and other chronic health conditions.

“The food we eat shouldn’t make us sick with disease or lead to lifelong consequences,” he said in the announcement. “California has been a leader for years in creating healthy and delicious school meals, and removing harmful ingredients and chemicals from food. We’re going to work with the industry, consumers and experts to crack down on ultra-processed foods, and create a healthier future for every Californian.”

According to the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, 73 percent of U.S. adults aged 20 and older are overweight or obese, and 38 percent of children and youth aged 12 to 19 are prediabetic, the executive order noted.

In his order, Newsom described California as a leader in the healthy eating movement. The most populous state in the nation, California's crackdown on the junk food can affect the industry nationwide.

The executive order further instructs state agencies to:

• Continue investigating the health effects of synthetic food dyes;
• Recommend ways to reduce the purchase of ultra-processed foods;
• Look into requiring Medi-Cal Managed Care plans and California hospitals to use certain money to enhance access to healthy food;
• Find areas where the state can adopt higher standards for healthy school meals;
• Explore ways to protect and expand universal school food programs.

Newsom may have an unlikely ally in the Trump administration in the bid to limit Ultra-processed foods in the food supply. The president's nominee for the secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a longtime critic of ultra-processed food and has said he would overhaul federal standards for the food industry. The United States lags behind Europe in banning dyes and additives linked to cancer and poor health outcomes, The Los Angeles Times reported.

California has a longstanding ban on sodas for elementary, middle and high school campuses.

Legislative action last year included prohibiting state schools from serving food with synthetic dye additives linked to health harms in children, standardizing quality and safety date labels on food, and banning food containing red dye No. 3, titanium dioxide, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil or propylparaben.

Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.